Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger expressed frustration with his side's inconsistency and criticized its mental sharpness after it needed an own goal to snatch a draw from Southampton only three days after beating Newcastle United 7-3.

But he confirmed his search for a remedy will not include bringing back the club's former striker Thierry Henry for a second comeback season.

"We didn't create a lot after having scored five at Reading, seven against Newcastle," the Frenchman said. "The goal chances we created were not a lot and our game lacked purpose, lacked penetration, lacked speed - all the qualities that we usually have and that we didn't see tonight.

"It is frustrating. It is nothing to do with the physical side. In a game of that magnitude against a Southampton team that was really highly determined, I felt we lacked purpose in our game, and it was more mental than physical. We lacked sharpness.

"There is no specific reason. We prepared normally, we prepared well, and maybe, Southampton deserve some credit as well. They fought for every single ball until the last second."

It was Theo Walcott's free kick that was put into his own net by Guly Do Prado, but otherwise Walcott was anonymous after his hat-trick on Saturday.

Wenger said: "Overall, nobody was put in good positions to express something offensively.

"We didn't have enough quality to get them out of position, but it is difficult to identify any specific thing. We have to analyze that together and see why because we have big games coming up and we want to get back to our normal performance."

Agence France-Presse

(China Daily 01/03/2013 page12)